


This Is The Way

by SpatklingAngels



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Comments are Life People, F/M, Mature for Future Chapters, Respecting The Way, Romance, She likes him with the helmet, Tell me what you think, There will be major fluff, This Is The Way, Trying to stay as close to Din's Character as possible, Who doesn't love some bounty hunter dad?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22144087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpatklingAngels/pseuds/SpatklingAngels
Summary: After defeating Moth Gideon, Din Djarin continues his quest to find The Child's family, doing some bounty hunter work on the side here and there to keep them fed. During a stop on Navarro to turn in his bounties, resupply and refuel, he has a fateful encounter with a pickpocket that changes the course of his destiny.
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 15





	This Is The Way

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I have been so obsessed with the Mandalorian every since I watched the first episode. My friend and I did a little bit of roleplay about it and I decided to convert it into a more palatable reading experience (Roleplay logs can be a beast to read) so that you all could enjoy it as well. I hope you all enjoy! It is rated mature for future happenings. This first chapter isn't very long, just shy of 2000 words, but I hope it satisfies you as the prologue of sorts.

Navarro was always hot. The kind of planet that a person didn’t elect to stay on unless they truly enjoyed the oppressive heat that radiated from the lava flats, or they had no other options. The majority of the people that ended up there were bounty hunters, keen on turning in their fobs for their reward money, slave traders, or orphans. The planet was a barren wasteland full of lava and poisonous monsters, but within the city there was a different kind of danger. Thievery, murder, rape, slavery. There was no limit to the depravity the planet could produce. Slavery had mostly been abolished from the planet, though some still suffered in private the trade had been mostly extinguished in this galaxy. However the remains of that gruesome trade were evident. The slums within the city were large with countless scores of ill or weak individuals, orphaned children with nowhere to turn, and the elderly who could not provide for themselves anymore.

Most of those who resided in the slums had once been slaves or were brought to Navarro for sale. Some were those who’s owners had died during the fall of the Empire and had nowhere to return to, so they stayed and struggled with the rest. Adeline was one of those. Her parent’s had sold her to slavers when she was ten. The oldest of seven and the healthiest, she had fetched the highest price and been taken away. With so many mouths to feed and not enough food to go around, she hadn’t held it against her parents. There was little to be angry about really, considering how lucky she had been when it came to who purchased her. A sick old man who just wanted company as he wasted away. She cared for him for five years, doing more than the nurse droids on some days, treating him like a bed ridden father until the Empire fell, and all the known Imperial’s were culled. He was one of them, and she was cast out onto the street, where she suffered for a little over five more years.

Adeline’s dirty red hair was hanging limp about her shoulders and down her back, overly long and tangled from weeks of not having anything to comb it with or the chance to bathe. Her clothes were tattered, her once bright green eyes were rather dull from lack of nutrition, and her malnourished state was hidden mostly by the baggy clothes she wore. She liked to hide atop some of the taller buildings and assess the marketplace on busy days, keeping an eye out for someone who might be an easy target. This was her usual routine. Scout, spot, mark, distract, hit, escape. As long as she stuck to those simple rules, she never had any difficulties. She had been trained well by some of the other orphans when she was still considered a teenager. Now she was twenty and no longer considered an orphan, but she didn’t know any other way of survival.

So when the sun reflected off of metal and her eyes were drawn to the distinct outline of a Mandalorian walking through the market, her interest was piqued. Crawling to the edge of the parapet she hid behind, she peered over the edge to get a better look. His Beskar armor was dented and dirty, but it still held the sheen of true Beskar Steel. In his arms was a small bundle wrapped in what looked like a potato sack, but upon closer inspection she realized it was a child. A small, green, adorable child. Shaking the strange image from her head she chose him as his mark and quickly made her way down from the top of the building, scaling the walls easily and landing in a crouch within the safety of the alley. Her stomach growled as the smells from the food stalls within the market wafted down the alley and hit her nose. When was the last time I ate? She wondered, but then quickly pushed the thoughts away as she saw her quarry walk briskly past the alleyway towards another stall further up the street. She righted herself and straightened her baggy clothes as much as possible before slipping out of the alley after him, slowing to admire something at a stall whenever it looked like he might be about to turn around. 

Little did she know, the Mandalorian knew she was following him. Hardly anything ever got past him, and even without turning around he could sense someone following and watching. He was used to being targeted by pickpockets and thieves, it was not an uncommon turn of events here in Navarro for him to have even more than one following him.   
He stopped in front of a food stall, speaking quietly with the man about what he was peddling, and purchasing some kind of meat on a stick that he handed to the little green child, who devoured it within seconds. He had just finished paying the man and returned his credit pouch to his waist when he felt something hit his back, running into him quite deliberately while at the same time relieving him of his credit pouch. It had been a rather hard impact and must’ve hurt whoever did it, but it barely jarred him.

“I’m so sorry!” A soft, squeaky voice chirped at him, and as he turned to look down at the thief he was met with dull green eyes and red hair so dirty it was almost brown. 

“Careful.” He said gently, steadying her by the shoulder with his free hand and watching as she hurriedly disappeared around the corner into the alley.

Din heaved a sigh through his nose and turned on his heel, walking at a brisk pace, almost a jog but not quite, going the opposite way the thief had gone and circumnavigating the alley where she had disappeared. He knew the streets of this city very well, and while she likely did too, he was faster and healthier.

Her energy ran out after just a few moments of running, and by the time she rounded the next corner she had to stop dead in her tracks, panting for breath as she stared up at the very same Mandalorian. He didn’t even look phased as he stood before her, extending his hand out for the credit pouch she still had clutched in her hand. A small sound of protest left her lips at the sudden denial of the food she would have had from the amount of money he carried, but she did not resist, slowly settling the pouch in his hand and starting to back away. She didn’t get far.

He had set The Child down moments after entering the alleyway, and his thankfully free hand reached out to snag her wrist and keep her from escaping. She tugged against his hand and tried to free herself, but his gentle words stopped her seconds later. “Easy.” He whispered, loosening his grip and letting her go.

Adeline eyed him nervously, pulling her hands into her chest and rubbing at her wrists awkwardly as she stared at him. Was he going to turn her in? There wasn’t much in the way of law here, but the bounty hunters sort of kept the order. Thieves weren’t tolerated.

“I’m not going to turn you in.” Din assured her, shaking the pouch and tugging the drawstrings open to withdraw a small handful of credits. “Though, had you asked, I would’ve given some to you anyway.” He mused, tucking the pouch back into his belt and reaching out to deposit the credits into her hands.

“W…Why?” Adeline questioned, looking down at the handful of credits that if she was careful, would feed her for two weeks. If she shared with the others, maybe a few days. “No one’s ever helped any of us before.”

“This is the way.” Din said simply, bending down to pick The Child up and tuck him into the crook of his arm once again, “I help where I can.” He explained softly. Inwardly he wondered if there was more, he could do for her, but he didn’t know what he could offer a young woman like her. “Be careful. Don’t get caught.” He warned, then slowly disappeared back around the corner.

Adelaide watched him go, dumbfounded by the way he had reacted to being stolen from, and by the time she had gathered her wits to try and run after him she could no longer see him. Looking in both directions she searched for the sun’s reflection on Beskar Steel she saw no sign of him. Where could he have gone so quickly?

She wanted to find him, to thank him properly at least for sparing her. She had heard of the Mandalorians before, heard of their creed to protect the weak and take in those that needed their protection but had never taken it much to heart, thinking that like all other races or creeds out there that most were not as kind as they were made out to be.  
Admitting she was wrong was the hardest part of it all as she disappeared back down into the alley to think of where he might have gone. She thought back to what she had seen him buying. An obsolete spare part for a Razor Crest space ship, a weeks supply of rations, carbonate, and the snack for The Child. Then it began to click. Places he might go. The hangar outside of town had a fuel supply where he could fill his ships tank. There was a possibility she might find him there. Jumping up from her little hidden alcove within the alley she dashed off down the dirt path, skirting around the edge of the city until she came upon the hangar. Perching on the wall that circled the large repair yard she peeked in to observe.

There within the metal walls was a Razor Crest, beat to all hell with two mechanics presently doing work on it, a few droids lingering about the sidelines handing over tools and parts, while one handled the fueling. Getting in would not be easy, but she had to try, for whatever part was left of her rational thought processes told her that she had to.   
Adeline watched from her perch as the Mandalorian returned from his shopping and handed over the parts he had purchased to the mechanics, skirting his way around the droids with obvious dislike and making his way up into the ship via the side hatch door. Resolving herself to wait until dark or it looked like he might start to take off, she hunkered herself down atop one of the buildings next to the hangar and settled in to wait until the sun set blow the horizon.


End file.
